S. Dakota Suspends Enforcement of Tax on Food Giveaways

South Dakota will put off collecting sales taxes on maintenance fees charities pay to a statewide distributor of food for the needy, The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D., reports.

The state was to begin enforcing the seldom-observed tax provision on October 1, but Gov. Dennis Daugaard suspended the move until March 1 so legislators and the administration can study whether to proceed.

As many as 275 nonprofit groups pay fees to Feeding South Dakota to store and transport supplies for food banks and pantries. State officials said they only discovered late last year that charities were paying the fee and that it was subject to a decades-old sales-tax law.

“This is one of those issues that we need to balance the need to enforce the laws and the need to be reasonable and how to do that,” Tony Venhuizen, a spokesman for the governor, said Monday.